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Cox's Orange Pippin is highly regarded due to its excellent flavour and attractive appearance. The apples are of medium size, orange-red in colour, deepening to bright red and mottled with carmine over a deep yellow background. The flesh is very aromatic, yellow-white, fine-grained, crisp, and very juicy. Cox's flavour is sprightly subacid, with hints of cherry and anise, becoming softer and milder with age. When ripe apples are shaken, the seeds make a rattling sound as they are only loosely held in the apple's flesh.[1]

One of the best in quality of the English dessert apples, Cox's Orange Pippin may be eaten out of hand or sliced. Not recommended for cooking, it cooks to a fine froth.[citation needed] Cox's Orange Pippin is often blended with other varieties in the production of cider.

According to the Institute of Food Research,[2] Cox's Orange Pippin accounts for over 50% of the UK acreage of dessert apples. The tree is a moderate grower and is annually productive. However, it can be difficult to grow in many environments, and tends to be susceptible to diseases such as scab, mildew, and canker, so it is rarely grown commercially in North America.[3] Cox's Orange Pippin is also grown in Belgium and in the Netherlands, countries with a climate similar to that of England. A number of sports of Cox's Orange Pippin have been discovered over subsequent years and propagated. These retain "Cox" in their names, e.g., Cherry Cox, Crimson Cox, King Cox, and Queen Cox. In addition to the cultivation of Cox sports, apple breeders have hybridised Cox with other varieties to improve vigour, disease resistance, and yield, while attempting to retain the unique qualities of Cox's flavour.[4]

Visser, J. (1983) Effect of the ground-water regime and nitrogen fertilizer on the yield and quality of apples: results of a ground-water level experimental field with the apple varieties Golden Delicious and Cox's Orange Pippin on a young calcerous marine clayey soil. Lelystad: Ministerie van Verkeer en Waterstaat